With the foreseeable impact of the Russian war in Ukraine on food security in poor countries - soaring commodity, food and energy prices, lack of grain and fertiliser - the European Parliament’s Committee on Development gave the floor to experts, on Tuesday 22 March, to identify how EU development and humanitarian aid policies can be used more effectively to fight hunger and malnutrition.
The hearing on food security and nutrition focused on systemic solutions that the international community should put in place for the benefit of food producers in developing countries.
“With the fallout from the war, the poorest and most vulnerable countries will again be the most affected”, said Ms Kempa (ECR, Poland) who is preparing a report on food security in developing countries. This will incorporate the commitments of the international Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit (see EUROPE 12849/6) and the 2021 Sustainable Food Systems Summit.
According to the FAO, if the war leads to a prolonged reduction in exports from Ukraine and Russia, the number of undernourished people in the world could increase by 8 or even 13 million within 2 years, adding to the 800 million already suffering from hunger today.
There will be 48 million in South Asia, 282 million in Africa, 60 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, warned Gabriel Ferreiro, who chairs the Committee on World Food Security.
He recalled that the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ‘Zero Hunger by 2030 (SDG2) was already off track before the pandemic, with 811 million people going hungry in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic added 120 million. In 2020, 3 billion people were deprived of a healthy diet, 928 million were acutely food insecure, 2.3 billion lacked access to adequate food, and 1 in 5 children under the age of 5 was stunted due to chronic malnutrition - in violation of the “inalienable right to food”.
Conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, are among the factors exacerbating hunger and malnutrition. Mr Ferreiro also cited inequality, chronic poverty, the impact of climate change, weak governance, rapid population growth and environmental degradation.
“We have the evidence and knowledge to end rural poverty while preserving biodiversity and climate neutrality, through transitions at local, national, regional and global levels”, he said.
Smallholder and women’s empowerment. As investment in agriculture is the most effective, according to the World Bank (in Africa it is 11 times more effective than in any other sector), it should focus on empowering smallholders and cooperatives, which produce 80% of the food consumed in the world, on empowering women and on decent work along the agri-food chain.
To make the right to food effective, appropriate policies will have to be adopted to: - support the actors of change; - produce more and better on each hectare and each farm, by combining best practices and technologies; - invest in territorial development by linking territorial governance and strengthening the role of local governments and actors; - link this to the extension of social protection systems, e.g. school canteens, food stamps; - strengthen social and environmental standards in agribusiness; - strengthen humanitarian aid and maximise its delivery from local food systems; - strengthen global governance and mobilise $33 billion in funding per year.
These recommendations were endorsed by all member countries of the Committee on World Food Security, he recalled.
With more than 200 million people suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa and many livelihoods lost due to the pandemic, Ms Gyosé, a nutrition adviser seconded by FAO to the African Union, stressed the importance of recognising the differences in food systems across the continent, identifying gaps, strengthening value chains and achieving results.
“There will be different guidelines for different food systems for Africa so that Africa can work in an interdisciplinary way. Our food sovereignty is at stake”, she said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)